Friday, 29 January 2016

The Amazon Female...

...is me!

To explain - I have just started selling on Amazon.co.uk. I'm not sure whether it will be productive financially, but it may at least clear some of my books. I'm just hoping there'll be a profit along the line somewhere, though I doubt if it'll make my fortune!

When I left England nearly 9 years ago, I tried to sell some things on eBay, but I ended up in a 'negative equity' position, as they say, in that the fees I incurred came to more than the sales revenue I ultimately received. But some people make a living from selling on the Internet, so I am hopeful. Not that I think it'll be a living, but at least something. I hope.

Today I listed 3 books (it's books I really need to get rid of) so that I could see how the thing works. Now I just have to sit back and wait and see if anyone buys them!

In case you are interested, here's a picture of one of the listings...

...the other two are books about knitting socks. I'm hoping that, as it's winter here in the northern hemisphere, lots of people will start knitting socks and want to buy a helpful book!

Other than that, with winter and Valentine's Day in mind, I have been beavering away knitting fingerless gloves, or mitts as they seem to be called lately. This is in order to use up my other major house filler - YARN!

De-stashing

Another of those 'new' words (I am thinking of compiling a dictionary). Having a 'stash' seems to be a new thing. I guess we now have more leisure time and more disposable income and if, like me, you are attracted by yarn/fibre/wool, there is something irresistible about buying more of it, even when you have more than enough really...

I find it hard to resist those luxury fibres like cashmere, angora, soft merino, to name but a few. And find myself buying a few balls when I see the pretty colours, or feel the fabulous textures... At least, I did. I've nearly kicked the habit now and I'm trying to downsize the yarn mountain I have. As I rarely buy more than a few balls, it is hard to get rid of sell anything to anyone, as many people (so I hear) actually use yarn to make garments such as sweaters and jackets and so need quite large quantities. I usually only have enough to make a hat, or scarf, or gloves, so I could only sell to someone who wants to make some ACCESSORIES.

SO I am trying to downsize the mountain by making items and putting them on a website (I have an ETSY shop) although I have also persuaded a friend with a local gift shop to take some of them. But rural French ladies are not often seen with fingerless mittens (however luxurious or sparkly they may be) and so sales are not exactly going through the roof. You've already seen some of the mitts in a previous post, and there are more in my ETSY shop.

But the yarn mountain has not really reduced, although I'm spending all my spare time knitting. If you have any suggestions as to what I could do with my yarn (nothing rude please) I would love to hear them! But for now I must get back to the mitty gritty...

Penny, you have the same sort of addiction to yarn that sewers/quilters have with fabric! (I think I have mine under control!) I used to buy 'exotic' yarns when I had a weaving loom. I too was taken in by luscious colors, unique fibers. I would buy one or two at at time also... over 30 years later, I still have some of those yarns. I think your idea of using them up to make the finger-less gloves is a great idea. But I hope you make a tremendous profit no matter what avenue you use!

Blankets maybe? Good luck. And one of my French friends does wear fingerless mitts but she is a bit of a maverick or what another French friend calls a soixante-huitard (apparently from 1968 when the students were revolting in Paris!)